Former NC teaching assistant found guilty of assaulting handicapped student

Former NC teaching assistant found guilty of assaulting handicapped student

Cherry Tillery Taylor

PITT COUNTY, N.C. — A former Pitt County teaching assistant has been found guilty of assaulting a handicapped student.

According to WCTI, jurors found Cherry Tillery Taylor guilty of three counts of assault on a handicapped person.

Cherry was then sentenced to serve 150 days in jail.

Taylor was working as a teaching assistant at Elmhurst Elementary School in Greenville when she was arrested on Nov. 14, 2013.

It was reported that Taylor choked a handicapped student, punched the student in the stomach and kicked him in his side. She then reportedly took the student’s own fist and made him punch himself several times, causing his nose to bleed.

School officials suspended Taylor without pay after the incident. She had worked as a teaching assistant at J.H. Rose High School from Jan. 29, 2007 to Aug. 20, 2012.